During cold weather, and particularly those areas in colder climates, there is typically a significant accumulation of snow and ice along on both public and private property that pose a safety hazard if left unchecked or uncleared. Overnight snowfall and ice accumulation can result in such hazardous conditions for individuals attempting to reach their car or exit their house the morning after a significant snowfall, or freeze. Typical removal techniques include manually shoveling and breaking up thick patches of snow and ice and/or using a motorized snow blowing machine. This can be particularly challenging for those with health concerns, the elderly, and those with physical disabilities. Additionally, there is often only limited space to relocate accumulated snow and ice to, resulting in hazardous “snow mountains” that then can cause property damage when temperatures warm.
Accumulated snow can become heavy and condensed if not immediately cleared, and likewise can become wet or even hardened in moist conditions or in the presence of freezing rain. This further exacerbates the difficulty of physically clearing a pathway or large areas of fallen snow. Even when one uses a snow blower or similar device, the issue of storing large amounts of accumulated snowfall remains, as does the need to maintain the cleared area. Typically this is done using a bed of rock salt to prevent ice formation on the cleared path. However, extremely low temperatures, typically below 20 degrees Fahrenheit (−7° C.), render rock salt ineffective at melting ice.
Conversion of 0° C. snow to 0° C. water requires 334 kJ/kg of snow. The rate at which the domestic power circuit can provide such energy often limits the rate at which a device can be used to melt snow. Assuming a 50 amp circuit of a typical residence, the power available for melting snow is approximately 12.0 kW, which is sufficient to melt 0.03593 kg of snow per second, or 2.16 kg per minute. The density of snow ranges between 5 and 20% of that of water, thus this corresponds to 0.00018 cubic meters of snow per second, or approximately equal to 22.8 cubic feet of snow per hour. However, often in other applications there are significant parasitic conditions leading to a lower efficiency in the task of melting snow such as loss of heat to atmospheric conditions, which the current device design seeks to mitigate. In extreme circumstances with an ambient temperature of −30° C. many devices are incapable of melting snow and ice, whereas the design of the present invention only loses approximately 15% efficiency.
Thus there is a need for, and the present invention provides, a solution to clearing both accumulated snow and ice from pathways and to the problem of storing excess snow after roads or other areas are cleared of snow and ice. The device is useful for melting accumulated snow and transporting it to an area, such as a storm drain, where the water can simply flow away without accumulating and causing the issues related with removal and storage of significant accumulations of snow and ice. The device, therefore, is a powered heating device and pump system that can be moved over areas of snow and ice. It is particularly useful for areas of high snow accumulation, as well as after initial snow removal for transport of excess accumulation, in liquid form, to an area better suited for storage.